Exchange Server 2013 doesn’t support the installation of Exchange 2013 on a computer that’s running in Windows Server Core mode. The computer must be running the full installation of Windows Server. If you want to install Exchange 2013 on a computer that’s running in Windows Server Core mode, you must convert the server to a full installation of Windows Server by doing one of the following:

Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard with SP1

Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise with SP1

Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later

Operating system for Management Tools (on a computer with 64bit processor)

Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard with SP1

Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise with SP1

Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later

64-bit edition of Windows 8

64-bit edition of Windows 7 with SP1

Active Directory Server Requirement:

Schema Master

Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard or Enterprise

Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later

Windows Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise (32-bit or 64-bit)

Windows Server 2008 Datacenter RTM or later

Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later (32-bit or 64-bit)

Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with SP2 or later (32-bit or 64-bit)

Global Catalog Server

At least one Global Catalog server in every Active Directory site where you are planning to install Exchange 2010 on,

Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard or Enterprise

Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later

Windows Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise (32-bit or 64-bit)

Windows Server 2008 Datacenter RTM or later

Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later (32-bit or 64-bit)

Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with SP2 or later (32-bit or 64-bit)

Domain Controller

Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard or Enterprise SP1 or later

Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later

Windows Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise SP1 or later (32-bit or 64-bit)

Windows Server 2008 Datacenter RTM or later

Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later (32-bit or 64-bit)

Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with SP2 or later (32-bit or 64-bit)

Active Directory Forest

Domain Functional Level: Windows Server 2003 or higher.

Forest Functional Level: Windows Server 2003 or higher.

Verify that Domain and Forest function level of Active Directory is at least “Windows Server 2003”.

Open Active Directory Domains and Trust.

Right-Click on the name of your domain and select “Raise Domain Functional Level”.

Before installing prerequisites make sure that you have installed Standard or Enterprise edition of Windows 2008 R2, but NOT Core, Web Server or Foundation Server editions.

Open Powershell (Open Powershell window with elevated rights by right-clicking it “Run as Administrator”) and import server module first with “Import-Module ServerManager” command then install/enable Operating System components as per below;